Left to save by December 2018 is $21,598.42. That's $1,661.42 per month over 13 months. I did end up increasing my 401k to 12% this month and will increase to 14% around January. Reaching $50K by the end of next year is feeling more and more possible.

Left to save by December 2018 is $21,598.42. That's $1,661.42 per month over 13 months. I did end up increasing my 401k to 12% this month and will increase to 14% around January. Reaching $50K by the end of next year is feeling more and more possible.

@Haypug, may I ask, why the Capital One IRA? I don't know much about their retirement products, although I do have a bank account with them. How much are the fees?

Left to save by December 2018 is $21,598.42. That's $1,661.42 per month over 13 months. I did end up increasing my 401k to 12% this month and will increase to 14% around January. Reaching $50K by the end of next year is feeling more and more possible.

@Haypug, may I ask, why the Capital One IRA? I don't know much about their retirement products, although I do have a bank account with them. How much are the fees?

I've heard good things about Fidelity, those fees are low, yes?

I honestly would have to look. I have the Capital One because I used to have Sharebuilder (a million years ago) and they were acquired by Capital One. Fidelity is where I want to start putting more of my money eventually I just have been focusing on debt payment and not retirement savings lately so the balance is very low on that one.

Checking in to update... TSP balance is up to 34,300. Mint thinks I will hit 50k in Sept 2019. Yay progress!I canceled my contract on the house I was going to buy, so I think in 2018 I can bump up my retirement contributions significantly. Baby # 2 is due to arrive in January, and this may affect both income and expenses, so don't want to shake things up too much just yet.

About the IRA's..... Should I bother with these yet? I haven't been able to max out TSP yet, so I haven't been contributing to my IRA that I opened years ago. Theres only a few thousand in there. I don't know that much about IRA's honestly, but I know MMM recommends maxing 401k first. Any thoughts?

Checking in to update... TSP balance is up to 34,300. Mint thinks I will hit 50k in Sept 2019. Yay progress!I canceled my contract on the house I was going to buy, so I think in 2018 I can bump up my retirement contributions significantly. Baby # 2 is due to arrive in January, and this may affect both income and expenses, so don't want to shake things up too much just yet.

About the IRA's..... Should I bother with these yet? I haven't been able to max out TSP yet, so I haven't been contributing to my IRA that I opened years ago. Theres only a few thousand in there. I don't know that much about IRA's honestly, but I know MMM recommends maxing 401k first. Any thoughts?

Congrats on the Balances up and on the upcoming arrival of Baby #2!

I have heard the same regarding maxing out 401k before contributing to an IRA. That is my goal. I'm new to all this but the tax benefits of contributing to a 401k are great also the money comes right out of the paycheck so there's no temptation to spend it. That's at least the reasoning I have for putting the 401K first. My IRA balances are all pre MMM so I was just kind of throwing my money around with no real idea of what I was doing. Now I at least have "some" idea of what's going on. My goal is to max out 401K by the end of 2018 and then start adding to the Fidelity IRA.

Woo, I reached the halfway point! EF & investments now equal $25,000. Could have been higher but November was a spendypants month for me. I did also move some more of my EF over to my Roth. I think this was the right call, but I should leave my EF alone now. On track for $40,000 by end of summer 2018. $50,000 in early 2019. Gotta stay focused!

Woohoo - halfway there is sweet victory:) CONGRATS to you westtoeast! I'm practically green with envy:)...

Update: Ending the year 2017 with $10,117.

OUTLOOK: 2018 - no debt except car loan (grrr) and I'm back in the game - which means I can contribute a solid $1K in January. Things are looking up again.All other goals and financial surprises are sorted out and I think January may turn out to be a good month.

Woo, I reached the halfway point! EF & investments now equal $25,000. Could have been higher but November was a spendypants month for me. I did also move some more of my EF over to my Roth. I think this was the right call, but I should leave my EF alone now. On track for $40,000 by end of summer 2018. $50,000 in early 2019. Gotta stay focused!

Woohoo - halfway there is sweet victory:) CONGRATS to you westtoeast! I'm practically green with envy:)...

Update: Ending the year 2017 with $10,117.

OUTLOOK: 2018 - no debt except car loan (grrr) and I'm back in the game - which means I can contribute a solid $1K in January. Things are looking up again.All other goals and financial surprises are sorted out and I think January may turn out to be a good month.

REVISED UPDATE FOR DECEMBER and it is oh so much better:) instead of $10,117 I'm ending the year 2017 with $11,642. I'm ecstatic and quite proud of myself that I pulled this off after so much financial upheaval - both planned and unplanned.

Hope y'all are doing well going into 2018 - slow and steady wins the race!

Current status and plans for 2018:1. To re-state my original goal of saving $1,666 mo x 30 mo = $50K by Dec 2019. Did not happen that way - lots of wild swings throughout the year.Current status: $11,642 as of Dec 2017

2. Seven months in, I am at $11,642 with 23 months and $38,358 to go to my ultimate goal of $50K.If I continue to manage to save $1667.74 a month - on average - I will be right on track.

3. 2018 will be harder since I now have a $256.05 car payment that I didn't have when I started this challenge in June (car loan happened in late Aug). Plus, I added a second goal of saving $200 to bolster my travel fund - Jan to July.So I need to become a badass MMMer at least until July and I definitely need to find a bit of side income to make it all happen.

Trouble is both plans are equally important to me - the travel fund is a sort of bucket list, let's do this while I still can and I plan to have a lot of fun doing it, so I do not want to skimp on my trip with my longtime girlfriends, if I can help it.

Perhaps I could find a zero percent credit card to help with the travel fund? - not too fond of that route, I prefer to have enough money for all of my travel expenses before I leave. I've just never been able to justify going on a trip when you don't have the money to do so - but this is also my mom's 90th birthday and will be my last trip just to see her (alongside spending time and money on a trip throughout Europe with my old friends while I am there).

Maybe I could figure out how to travel hack - all I need is the ticket for one person, the rest is cake, I've already saved $3,258.

However, I realize that I really do not want to give up my retirement fund goal either - so wish me luck and tenacity:) - I will find a way - god willing and the river don't rise:)

Happy Holidays everyone and the best of luck with your own goals!:) 2018 here we come - we can do this!I really want to see $50K in my statement by Dec 2019!

$20,551.41 left to save by the end of next year. It'll be close but hopefully the market will hold, though I have a good 10+ years before I FIRE so I could handle a crash. I'm just going to stick to my plan of increasing my 401K to 14% in January and again every 2-3 months until I max it out.

Well I bit the bullet and upped my contributions to $1200 a month to the retirement account, mostly because I got a step increase and COL increase. If I run out of paid time off and and have to take leave without pay to stay home with baby, I can always re-evaluate the budget. But at least this way I'm starting off 2018 on the right foot. My leave started this week at the doctors advise since he says baby can come any time now.

I'm really glad everyone is doing well, and Rosy it seems like you're able to save a lot each month so I'm sure you will reach the goal, maybe even before Dec 2019.

I have made the decision to decrease my 401K contributions from 12 to 3% (the company match is 3%) This is so I can put the ~$500 into paying down debt. I have about $6K left in Credit Card debt and then $60K in Student loans that range from 3.4-5.5% so once the Credit Cards and the higher interest rate Student loans are paid down I'll go back to putting 12% or more into 401K. This means I will most likely not hit my goal of $50K by the end of this year but it should mean that I will be in a better position and able to save more later. Everything I've read says this is the right move to make but it's hard to not save for retirement (or at least not as much as I'd like)

2. Changed DD to go to the same bank so I can manually do an instant transfer of funds from checking into CD 2. (Jan-June = $1541x6mo= $9,246)3. The plan is that I will stop adding funds in July-Aug-Sep while I am on vacation. Start up savings again in Oct-Nov $1541x2=$3082. December may be zero savings again. Trying to be as realistic as I can. The ultimate goal for 2018 is to reach a min of $23K - stretch goal $25K.

I'm relieved to have the CD's in place and I am looking forward to seeing around $ 19,4 or so by Jun 2018. What makes this a real challenge for me at present is that I need to be bada$$ enough to also save an additional 200 mo for my travel fund and since I added $256.05 car pmt to my budget - it is indeed tight.

I have made the decision to decrease my 401K contributions from 12 to 3% (the company match is 3%) This is so I can put the ~$500 into paying down debt. I have about $6K left in Credit Card debt and then $60K in Student loans that range from 3.4-5.5% so once the Credit Cards and the higher interest rate Student loans are paid down I'll go back to putting 12% or more into 401K. This means I will most likely not hit my goal of $50K by the end of this year but it should mean that I will be in a better position and able to save more later. Everything I've read says this is the right move to make but it's hard to not save for retirement (or at least not as much as I'd like)

Tough decision @haypug16 I can see why you'd want to hit the cc's hard enough to eliminate that debt so you have more cash on hand and avoid interest. I'm not certain about the Student Loans - if the math supports it then I agree that the higher interest student loans should go next. The student loans at 3.4% can be dealt with once you have reached your 50K goals.

The student loans at 3.4% can be dealt with once you have reached your 50K goals.

Yup that's the plan. I'm tackling the CCs and the SL with interest of 5.5 and 5.375% which is the bulk of the loans ($41K) once that is taken care of I will resume my climb to maxing out my 401K and just paying the min on the SL that's left (~$20K)

I haven't done all the calculations yet but I think this pushes my $50K goal back a lot but we'll see how it goes.

2. Changed DD to go to the same bank so I can manually do an instant transfer of funds from checking into CD 2. (Jan-June = $1541x6mo= $9,246)3. The plan is that I will stop adding funds in July-Aug-Sep while I am on vacation. Start up savings again in Oct-Nov $1541x2=$3082. December may be zero savings again. Trying to be as realistic as I can. The ultimate goal for 2018 is to reach a min of $23K - stretch goal $25K.

I'm relieved to have the CD's in place and I am looking forward to seeing around $ 19,4 or so by Jun 2018. What makes this a real challenge for me at present is that I need to be bada$$ enough to also save an additional 200 mo for my travel fund and since I added $256.05 car pmt to my budget - it is indeed tight.

Years back, I have been utterly frugal (paid off $31,000 in student loans quickly by working double and spending half) but then have spent the past few years putting any extra cash I have made towards big trips and art workshops.

In December I recommitted to saving and will update at the end of January with numbers from the last two months (it's helping that my partner and I committed to a 'no-shopping' year for 2018~Good work everyone!

Hi all. I’m still at a little over $25,000 because I ended up transferring $3000 to my student loans. I had an urge to just get that number down. I’m still on track for goals though! Keep it up everyone!!

2. Changed DD to go to the same bank so I can manually do an instant transfer of funds from checking into CD 2. (Jan-June = $1541x6mo= $9,246)3. The plan is that I will stop adding funds in July-Aug-Sep while I am on vacation. Start up savings again in Oct-Nov $1541x2=$3082. December may be zero savings again. Trying to be as realistic as I can. The ultimate goal for 2018 is to reach a min of $23K - stretch goal $25K.

I'm relieved to have the CD's in place and I am looking forward to seeing around $ 19,4 or so by Jun 2018. What makes this a real challenge for me at present is that I need to be bada$$ enough to also save an additional 200 mo for my travel fund and since I added $256.05 car pmt to my budget - it is indeed tight.

Wow, where did you go to get 3% cd for only 12 months?

@DieHard_772 - Navy Federal Credit Union - offers a one time deal for all new members - it is 3% APR with a max of $3K for 12 months. They've had this offer for a long time, but I didn't have an extra 3K when I joined in Aug 2017 - so I took advantage this January. Membership requirement is a military connection or active military - I'm a widow and my husband was military and I have a military ID for base - comes in handy with a 10% discount at Lowes and Home Depot too:)... and your household members and your family members can open their own account (based on your membership.)I like them all around - especially for overseas travel

I was actually surprised to find that their other CD offer - current promo - may go dead anytime:) for 2.25% APR is pretty much better than anything out there incl Ally and cohorts - because it starts at $50 and you can continue to add up to $50K.

Hi all. Iím still at a little over $25,000 because I ended up transferring $3000 to my student loans. I had an urge to just get that number down. Iím still on track for goals though! Keep it up everyone!!

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@westtoeast - Yeah - I'm happy to see you are still on track for goals - completely understand that urge - sometimes one has to veer off the path - briefly - to keep the faith and keep on plugging:)

Years back, I have been utterly frugal (paid off $31,000 in student loans quickly by working double and spending half) but then have spent the past few years putting any extra cash I have made towards big trips and art workshops.

In December I recommitted to saving and will update at the end of January with numbers from the last two months (it's helping that my partner and I committed to a 'no-shopping' year for 2018~Good work everyone!

Welcome to the challenge@Serendip ! Have you set a target date for your goal yet?A no shopping year sounds bada$$:)

[In December I recommitted to saving and will update at the end of January with numbers from the last two months (it's helping that my partner and I committed to a 'no-shopping' year for 2018~Good work everyone!

Welcome to the challenge@Serendip ! Have you set a target date for your goal yet?A no shopping year sounds bada$$:)[/quote]

Thanks Rosy,I haven't set a target date since my income varies between year to year. I am self-employed and while there is generally always more work available I have given myself repetitive stress injuries before so need to just reduce spending, increase saving.I will plug away as quickly as I can. The no-shopping year is surprisingly relieving..buying just isn't an option (we still could cut down on groceries, but for my SO it isn't about money as much as challenging our consumerism attitude!) We still can pay for 'experiences'..so have to be careful not to pursue that line too much.

Here's my progress, will be a bit slower in the future--some of this was due to repayments made to me I would have to contribute around $2500/m to make $50,000 this year..and some months that is my income, other months it is half of it-- I am interested to see how close I can get!!

@DieHard_772 - Navy Federal Credit Union - offers a one time deal for all new members - it is 3% APR with a max of $3K for 12 months. They've had this offer for a long time, but I didn't have an extra 3K when I joined in Aug 2017 - so I took advantage this January. Membership requirement is a military connection or active military - I'm a widow and my husband was military and I have a military ID for base - comes in handy with a 10% discount at Lowes and Home Depot too:)... and your household members and your family members can open their own account (based on your membership.)I like them all around - especially for overseas travel

I was actually surprised to find that their other CD offer - current promo - may go dead anytime:) for 2.25% APR is pretty much better than anything out there incl Ally and cohorts - because it starts at $50 and you can continue to add up to $50K.

Hi all. Iím still at a little over $25,000 because I ended up transferring $3000 to my student loans. I had an urge to just get that number down. Iím still on track for goals though! Keep it up everyone!!

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

@westtoeast - Yeah - I'm happy to see you are still on track for goals - completely understand that urge - sometimes one has to veer off the path - briefly - to keep the faith and keep on plugging:)

Thanks Rosy! Yeah, I feel OK about it. It is really nice to see a lower debt number on my Mint account!

Just reached 27,000 (24,800 investments, $2200 emergency fund).

I've been debating my EF amount lately. I also have read along with the thread discussing the amount folks keep. I've decided it is more important for me right now to divert more into investments and loan repayment. $2200 would only cover 1.4 months of basic expenses, but I'm in a secure job (knock on wood, but I've got tenure) and could tap my Roth or use my large open credit in a really dire situation. Hopefully this is an OK choice. Obviously, I'll get the EF higher if I can but investments will stay the priority.

@westtoeastYou know it is hard to resist investing while the market is up. As long as you have enough to pull from if something bad happens, I think I'd opt for investing too. But, like you said, I'd try to shore up the EF whenever possible.

Ultimately I'd like to have one year worth of expenses $36K in an EF - one-third cash - two-thirds CD. I'm not there yet, by a long shot. We are benefitting from the market via Mr. R's 401K and other investments, but that can change tomorrow. It is scary to know he's only about six years away from retirement, who knows how the market will fare in that time?

I think it is smart to build in a margin for safety and consider worst-case scenarios - like a 10-15 year downturn of the market or a forced early retirement before we are ready.

10/9/2017 - $26,382.8210/31/2017 - $27,019.0911/30/2017 - $28,401.5812/31/2017 - $29,448.591/31/2018 - $31,351.25Increase of $1,902.66 this is pretty much all due to the market. I only contributed about $350 between myself and my employer match.

Awesome

Oh, Haypug I wish I could say that - color me green with envy for the next five minutes:)Those are truly awesome results!

What a month! My retirement account jumped from 35,700 to 38,500! Only about $1200 of that was from contributions, the rest was the marketIn other news.... Rosy, I should have taken your advice about getting extra sleep while I could... Baby boy was born on Jan 10th, and I unexpectedly needed a c-section, and we came home from the hospital to my 22-month old daughter, who had gotten the flu! It was a rough couple of weeks keeping the two separated and caring for both plus myself... but now I have two beautiful, healthy babies!

Also, haypug, just my two cents, I agree with your decision to decrease 401k contributions while paying off debt, especially the 6k of credit cards. Relatively soon your debt will be gone! and you can bump up retirement contributions then.

What a month! My retirement account jumped from 35,700 to 38,500! Only about $1200 of that was from contributions, the rest was the marketIn other news.... Rosy, I should have taken your advice about getting extra sleep while I could... Baby boy was born on Jan 10th, and I unexpectedly needed a c-section, and we came home from the hospital to my 22-month old daughter, who had gotten the flu! It was a rough couple of weeks keeping the two separated and caring for both plus myself... but now I have two beautiful, healthy babies!

Also, haypug, just my two cents, I agree with your decision to decrease 401k contributions while paying off debt, especially the 6k of credit cards. Relatively soon your debt will be gone! and you can bump up retirement contributions then.

You guys are killing it!Wow - Mommy Cake - that was no walk in the park. Glad you and the babies are fine! I hope baby boy is an easy baby:)

What a month! My retirement account jumped from 35,700 to 38,500! Only about $1200 of that was from contributions, the rest was the marketIn other news.... Rosy, I should have taken your advice about getting extra sleep while I could... Baby boy was born on Jan 10th, and I unexpectedly needed a c-section, and we came home from the hospital to my 22-month old daughter, who had gotten the flu! It was a rough couple of weeks keeping the two separated and caring for both plus myself... but now I have two beautiful, healthy babies!

Also, haypug, just my two cents, I agree with your decision to decrease 401k contributions while paying off debt, especially the 6k of credit cards. Relatively soon your debt will be gone! and you can bump up retirement contributions then.

Congrats on your baby boy! and for the increase in your retirement account.

Thanks to decreasing my 401K contribution my CC debt is now down to $4,800 and should be completely gone by April. :)

Whelp, I'm back below the 1/2 mark. - The market correction knocked me down about $2000- Needed $500 from my EF because I had a medical expense that used up my deductible- Owed taxes!

I'm side hustling a lot this month so I'll be able to restore the EF pretty quickly.

This is my first market correction since I've only been investing for a few years. I'm probably not the only one here in that boat. I'm trying to relax about it and stay the course by contributing every paycheck no matter what. It was just so satisfying to see that "25,000" investment number on my Mint account! Of course, it could go right back up again. Who knows.

@westtoeastcoast - ouch! This is probably a good time to not look at your statement until the market stabilizes a bit more. Easier said than done.I don't have to deal with Market Volatility at present since my goal is strictly a CD stash but I gasp when I look at Mr. R's investments. In the long run, the market always beats savings - so you may well be way up again, by the time I reach my halfway point.

Of course, if unexpected big bills hit, I'll have to stop saving and deal with those instead. There is not enough money to do both, although I have a small EF, my slush fund is depleted and my EF is lower than it has been in two years.

I hear you on the side hustles. I'm not doing so well in that arena either, but plan to rev it up a bit, my goal is a min of $1K extra this year - I'd like to see more, we'll see.I am waiting on $200 and hope to make another $50 online by March 1st. Thinking of selling a couple of gemstones and adding the money to the stash. Originally, I wanted to hold onto them for ten years, but now I think I will at least find out for sure what I could sell them for now.

I really struggled last year to get back on track with the stash so I am a bit spooked about how well this year will go. I even contemplated giving up altogether, so staying the course was a win in a way. Besides, if you are the one who crowed and started this thread you can't just go hide under a rock - you find a way to make it happen anyway. There are times when I think this goal is way too ambitious considering my income and I'm only fooling myself thinking that I will ever get there - like today:).

It helps to see that I'm not the only one having issues and I appreciate all the support and input from all of you. We're mustachians we can do this!:)

Market has not fully recovered but it's getting there, I was down over $2K earlier in the month. My contributions were $177.34 so I guess I'm really down about $850 for the month. I should be able to up my contribution by April or May to 6% once my Credit Card Debt is gone! Only $2,200 left to pay off. :)

@westtoeastcoast - ouch! This is probably a good time to not look at your statement until the market stabilizes a bit more. Easier said than done.

...

I really struggled last year to get back on track with the stash so I am a bit spooked about how well this year will go. I even contemplated giving up altogether, so staying the course was a win in a way. Besides, if you are the one who crowed and started this thread you can't just go hide under a rock - you find a way to make it happen anyway. There are times when I think this goal is way too ambitious considering my income and I'm only fooling myself thinking that I will ever get there - like today:).

It helps to see that I'm not the only one having issues and I appreciate all the support and input from all of you. We're mustachians we can do this!:)

Thanks Rosy-- I want to be strong enough not to look when dips happen! Luckily things have recovered a bit in the market and I made a few more paycheck contributions so I'm now up to $26,500. This is only a little shy of my plan. Obviously the lesson here is not to get emotionally invested in market ups and downs because they are part of the process.

And this goal is not too ambitious for you. You WILL get there! Sounds like everyone on this thread has had setbacks at some point but we are also all making progress-- imagine how much worse setbacks would be if we didn't have this savings goal driving us, or if we didn't use MMM strategies in our lives.

Finally, I'm so glad you started this thread! It is so nice to see a goal on this forum that feels actually attainable, and to hear from other folks that I can relate to. So thank you, and keep going! We need ya!

Here is my update..savings for the next month & half will most likely be used up to pay taxes (I made over what was estimated & am self-employed)..but hoping my increased RRSP contributions will balance it all out. Would love to hit $30,000 and stay there (not dip below post taxes) by the end of April.

My last check in was on 2/1, and my TSP was at 38,500. My loss from market correction was minimal, somehow. Today my account is at about 39,600. I've put in (my contributions + match) about $1720 this month but see only an $1100 increase in balance. It could definitely be worse.

Next month the balance should increase, but minimally. I think I am making only one deposit instead of two due to running out of paid time off. I'm taking about 5 weeks unpaid, so I may be at a standstill for the next couple of months.

Serendip, you're doing great! Your increases are tremendous! No doubt you will hit $30k soon. Hopefully taxes won't be too much and you can cash flow it instead of taking from savings. Or even better, maybe you won't owe at all!

My last check in was on 2/1, and my TSP was at 38,500. My loss from market correction was minimal, somehow. Today my account is at about 39,600. I've put in (my contributions + match) about $1720 this month but see only an $1100 increase in balance. It could definitely be worse.

Next month the balance should increase, but minimally. I think I am making only one deposit instead of two due to running out of paid time off. I'm taking about 5 weeks unpaid, so I may be at a standstill for the next couple of months.

Serendip, you're doing great! Your increases are tremendous! No doubt you will hit $30k soon. Hopefully taxes won't be too much and you can cash flow it instead of taking from savings. Or even better, maybe you won't owe at all!

Thanks @MommyCake--good work for you as well! :) I have been able to save a high percentage of my paycheques..it is very satisfying but I am sure will fluctuate throughout the year. These challenges are keeping me inspired